Identification of an application associated with a third party system and transmission of application installation information to a user by an online system

ABSTRACT

An online system allows a user to provide information for accessing the online system to a third party system, which communicates the information to the online system. Based on the received information, the online system determines whether the user is authorized to access the third party system. Additionally, the online system determines whether an application is associated with the third party system. When determining whether an application is associated with the third party system, the online system may also account for characteristics of a client device associated with the user. If an application is associated with the third party system, the online system sends information for installing the application to the client device associated with the user.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. application Ser.No. 14/500,731, filed Sep. 29, 2014, which is incorporated by referencein its entirety.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates generally to installation of applications on aclient device, and more specifically to an online system providinginformation for installing an application associated with a third partysystem to a client device.

Third party systems may provide applications to users to increase userengagement, revenue, and other goals. To distribute an application tousers, third party systems may provide users with access to a link todownload a client application in an advertisement or another type ofmessage. By accessing the link, the application is downloaded from thethird party system or from another source and installed on the clientdevice from which the application was accessed.

However, users typically use multiple devices when accessing onlinecontent, making it difficult for a user to install an applicationassociated with a third party system on different devices. As differentthird party systems are associated with different applications, usersmay have difficulty keeping track of which applications associated withthird party systems are installed on different devices. Because anapplication associated with a third party system typically enhances userinteraction with content from the third party system, a user accessingcontent provided by the third party system via a device on which anapplication associated with the third party system is not installed maybe discouraged from interacting the third party system's content.

SUMMARY

An online system, such as a social networking system, stores informationdescribing applications associated with various third party systems. Thestored information includes information identifying a third party systemand identifiers associated with one or more applications associated withthe third party system, such as applications associated with the thirdparty system and configured to be executed by different types of clientdevices. For example, the stored information identifies a third partysystem and associates one or more applications with the third partysystem. Information describing various applications may also be stored.For example, information identifying a type of client device associatedwith an application or characteristics of the application is includedinformation identifying the application and associated with a thirdparty system. In various embodiments, the information stored for anapplication includes information for installing the application. Exampleinformation for installing an application includes a link to a sourcefor retrieving instructions for installing the application orinstructions for directing an application installer (e.g., anapplication store) executing on a client device to information forinstalling the application.

Additionally, the online system may exchange information with one ormore third party systems, allowing a user of the online system to accessa third party system using information for accessing the online system.The user provides access information for accessing the online system tothe third party system, which communicates the access information to theonline system. If the online system determines the access informationauthorizes the user to access the online system, an indication that theaccess information is authorized by the online system is transmitted tothe third party system, which allows the user to access the third partysystem. For example, the user provides a username and password foraccessing the online system to the third party system, whichcommunicates the username and password to the online system; if theonline system determines the username and password match a storedusername and password, the online system notifies the third party systemthat the user is authorized to access the online system and the thirdparty system allows access to the user in response to the authorizationfrom the online system. This simplifies user access to third partysystems by allowing user to access one or more third party systems usinginformation for accessing the online system rather than using differentinformation to access each third party system.

An application may be associated with a third party system to improveuser interaction with the third party system. For example, anapplication associated with the third party system is configured toexecute on certain types of client devices to provide users accessingthe third party system using the types of client devices with increasedfunctionality or simplified access to content provided by the thirdparty system. To improve interaction with the third party system, when auser accesses the third party system using online system accessinformation, the online system determines whether its maintainedinformation identifies an application associated with the third partysystem. For example, the online system determines an identifierassociated with the third party system to identifiers associated with athird party system associated with an application by the online system.If the online system determines an application is associated with thethird party system, the online system transmits information forinstalling the application to a client device associated with the user.

After receiving the information for installing the application from theonline system, the client device determines whether the application isinstalled on the client device. For example, the client device comparesapplication identifiers of installed applications to an identifierassociated with the application. If the identifier associated with theapplication matches an application identifier of an installedapplication, the client device does not take further action. However, ifthe identifier associated with the application does not match anapplication identifier of an installed application, the client devicepresents information for installing the application associated with thethird party system. In some embodiments, the online system transmits arequest to the client device to determine if the application isinstalled on the client device and transmits information for installingthe application if the client device indicates to the online system thatthe application is not installed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment in which an onlinesystem operates, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an online system, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 3 is an interaction diagram of a method for transmittinginformation for installing an application associated with a third partysystem to an online system user, in accordance with an embodiment

The figures depict various embodiments for purposes of illustrationonly. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the followingdiscussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methodsillustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principlesdescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

System Architecture

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment 100 for an onlinesystem 140, such as a social networking system. The system environment100 shown by FIG. 1 comprises one or more client devices 110, a network120, one or more third-party systems 130, and the online system 140. Inalternative configurations, different and/or additional components maybe included in the system environment 100.

The client devices 110 are one or more computing devices capable ofreceiving user input as well as transmitting and/or receiving data viathe network 120. In one embodiment, a client device 110 is aconventional computer system, such as a desktop or a laptop computer.Alternatively, a client device 110 may be a device having computerfunctionality, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobiletelephone, a smartphone or another suitable device. A client device 110is configured to communicate via the network 120. In one embodiment, aclient device 110 executes an application allowing a user of the clientdevice 110 to interact with the online system 140. For example, a clientdevice 110 executes a browser application to enable interaction betweenthe client device 110 and the online system 140 via the network 120. Inanother embodiment, a client device 110 interacts with the online system140 through an application programming interface (API) running on anative operating system of the client device 110, such as IOS® orANDROID™.

Different client devices 110 may have different device types that maydifferently execute applications or may execute different applications.For example, a client device 110 may execute native applications, whichare specifically designed to be executed on the client device'soperating system and firmware (but may be modified for execution bydifferent client devices 110 having different operating systems and/orfirmware). Alternatively, a client device 110 may execute applicationsconfigured to be executed by a type of operating system independent ofthe firmware or hardware of the client device 110 on which it isexecuted. A device type may indicate whether a client device 110executes an embedded operating system or a desktop operating system, ormay identify a type of embedded operating system or a type of desktopoperating system executed by the client device 110.

The client devices 110 are configured to communicate via the network120, which may comprise any combination of local area and/or wide areanetworks, using both wired and/or wireless communication systems. In oneembodiment, the network 120 uses standard communications technologiesand/or protocols. For example, the network 120 includes communicationlinks using technologies such as Ethernet, 802.11, worldwideinteroperability for microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, code divisionmultiple access (CDMA), digital subscriber line (DSL), etc. Examples ofnetworking protocols used for communicating via the network 120 includemultiprotocol label switching (MPLS), transmission controlprotocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), hypertext transport protocol(HTTP), simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), and file transfer protocol(FTP). Data exchanged over the network 120 may be represented using anysuitable format, such as hypertext markup language (HTML) or extensiblemarkup language (XML). In some embodiments, all or some of thecommunication links of the network 120 may be encrypted using anysuitable technique or techniques.

One or more third party systems 130 may be coupled to the network 120for communicating with the online system 140, which is further describedbelow in conjunction with FIG. 2. In one embodiment, a third partysystem 130 is an application provider communicating informationdescribing applications for execution by a client device 110 orcommunicating data to client devices 110 for use by an applicationexecuting on the client device. In other embodiments, a third partysystem 130 provides content or other information for presentation via aclient device 110. A third party system 130 may also communicateinformation to the online system 140, such as advertisements, content,or information about an application provided by the third party system130.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an architecture of the online system 140.In some embodiments, the online system 140 is a social networkingsystem. The online system 140 shown in FIG. 2 includes a user profilestore 205, a content store 210, an action logger 215, an action log 220,an edge store 225, a third party application manager 230, and a webserver 235. In other embodiments, the online system 140 may includeadditional, fewer, or different components for various applications.Conventional components such as network interfaces, security functions,load balancers, failover servers, management and network operationsconsoles, and the like are not shown so as to not obscure the details ofthe system architecture.

Each user of the online system 140 is associated with a user profile,which is stored in the user profile store 205. A user profile includesdeclarative information about the user that was explicitly shared by theuser and may also include profile information inferred by the onlinesystem 140. In one embodiment, a user profile includes multiple datafields, each describing one or more attributes of the correspondingonline system user. Examples of information stored in a user profileinclude biographic, demographic, and other types of descriptiveinformation, such as work experience, educational history, gender,hobbies or preferences, location and the like. A user profile may alsostore other information provided by the user, for example, images orvideos. In certain embodiments, images of users may be tagged withinformation identifying the social networking system users displayed inan image. A user profile in the user profile store 205 may also maintainreferences to actions by the corresponding user performed on contentitems in the content store 210 and stored in the action log 220.Additionally, a user profile may include information describing one ormore client devices 110 associated with a user. For example, a userprofile includes a client device identifier, a type of client device110, and information identifying one or more applications installed on aclient device 110 in a user profile to maintain information about aclient device 110 associated with the user.

While user profiles in the user profile store 205 are frequentlyassociated with individuals, allowing individuals to interact with eachother via the online system 140, user profiles may also be stored forentities such as businesses or organizations. This allows an entity toestablish a presence on the online system 140 for connecting andexchanging content with other online system users. The entity may postinformation about itself, about its products or provide otherinformation to users of the online system using a brand page associatedwith the entity's user profile. Other users of the online system mayconnect to the brand page to receive information posted to the brandpage or to receive information from the brand page. A user profileassociated with the brand page may include information about the entityitself, providing users with background or informational data about theentity.

The content store 210 stores objects that each represent various typesof content. Examples of content represented by an object include a pagepost, a status update, a photograph, a video, a link, a shared contentitem, a gaming application achievement, a check-in event at a localbusiness, a page (e.g., brand page), or any other type of content.Online system users may create objects stored by the content store 210,such as status updates, photos tagged by users to be associated withother objects in the online system 140, events, groups or applications.In some embodiments, objects are received from third-party applicationsor third-party applications separate from the online system 140. In oneembodiment, objects in the content store 210 represent single pieces ofcontent, or content “items.” Hence, online system users are encouragedto communicate with each other by posting text and content items ofvarious types of media to the online system 140 through variouscommunication channels. This increases the amount of interaction ofusers with each other and increases the frequency with which usersinteract within the online system 140.

The action logger 215 receives communications about user actionsinternal to and/or external to the online system 140, populating theaction log 220 with information about user actions. Examples of actionsinclude adding a connection to another user, sending a message toanother user, uploading an image, reading a message from another user,viewing content associated with another user, and attending an eventposted by another user. In addition, a number of actions may involve anobject and one or more particular users, so these actions are associatedwith those users as well and stored in the action log 220.

The action log 220 may be used by the online system 140 to track useractions on the online system 140, as well as actions on third partysystems 130 that communicate information to the online system 140. Usersmay interact with various objects on the online system 140, andinformation describing these interactions is stored in the action log220. Examples of interactions with objects include: commenting on posts,sharing links, checking-in to physical locations via a mobile device,accessing content items, and any other suitable interactions. Additionalexamples of interactions with objects on the online system 140 that areincluded in the action log 220 include: commenting on a photo album,communicating with a user, establishing a connection with an object,joining an event, joining a group, creating an event, authorizing anapplication, using an application, expressing a preference for an object(“liking” the object), and engaging in a transaction. Additionally, theaction log 220 may record a user's interactions with advertisements onthe online system 140 as well as with other applications operating onthe online system 140. In some embodiments, data from the action log 220is used to infer interests or preferences of a user, augmenting theinterests included in the user's user profile and allowing a morecomplete understanding of user preferences.

The action log 220 may also store user actions taken on a third partysystem 130, such as an external website, and communicated to the onlinesystem 140. For example, an e-commerce website may recognize a user ofan online system 140 through a social plug-in enabling the e-commercewebsite to identify the user of the online system 140. Because users ofthe online system 140 are uniquely identifiable, e-commerce web sites,such as in the preceding example, may communicate information about auser's actions outside of the online system 140 to the online system 140for association with the user. Hence, the action log 220 may recordinformation about actions users perform on a third party system 130,including webpage viewing histories, advertisements that were engaged,purchases made, and other patterns from shopping and buying.

In one embodiment, the edge store 225 stores information describingconnections between users and other objects on the online system 140 asedges. Some edges may be defined by users, allowing users to specifytheir relationships with other users. For example, users may generateedges with other users that parallel the users' real-life relationships,such as friends, co-workers, partners, and so forth. Other edges aregenerated when users interact with objects in the online system 140,such as expressing interest in a page on the online system 140, sharinga link with other users of the online system 140, and commenting onposts made by other users of the online system 140.

In one embodiment, an edge may include various features eachrepresenting characteristics of interactions between users, interactionsbetween users and objects, or interactions between objects. For example,features included in an edge describe rate of interaction between twousers, how recently two users have interacted with each other, the rateor amount of information retrieved by one user about an object, or thenumber and types of comments posted by a user about an object. Thefeatures may also represent information describing a particular objector user. For example, a feature may represent the level of interest thata user has in a particular topic, the rate at which the user logs intothe online system 140, or information describing demographic informationabout a user. Each feature may be associated with a source object oruser, a target object or user, and a feature value. A feature may bespecified as an expression based on values describing the source objector user, the target object or user, or interactions between the sourceobject or user and target object or user; hence, an edge may berepresented as one or more feature expressions.

The edge store 225 also stores information about edges, such as affinityscores for objects, interests, and other users. Affinity scores, or“affinities,” may be computed by the online system 140 over time toapproximate a user's interest in an object or in another user in theonline system 140 based on the actions performed by the user. A user'saffinity may be computed by the online system 140 over time toapproximate a user's interest in an object, a topic, or another user inthe online system 140 based on actions performed by the user.Computation of affinity is further described in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/978,265, filed on Dec. 23, 2010, U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/690,254, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/689,969, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, and U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/690,088, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, each of which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety. Multiple interactions betweena user and a specific object may be stored as a single edge in the edgestore 225, in one embodiment. Alternatively, each interaction between auser and a specific object is stored as a separate edge. In someembodiments, connections between users may be stored in the user profilestore 205, or the user profile store 205 may access the edge store 225to determine connections between users.

The third party application manager 230 includes information identifyingvarious third party systems 130 and one or more applications associatedwith each third party system 130. For example, the third partyapplication manager 230 includes associations between an identifierassociated with a third party system 130 and identifiers of one or moreapplications associated with the third party system 130. Differentapplications for execution by different types of client devices 110 maybe associated with a third party system 130, allowing the third partysystem 130 to provide various applications optimized for different typesof client devices 110. The third party application manager 230 mayinclude information identifying a type of client device 110, or othercharacteristics, associated with an application. Additionally,information for installing an application may be stored in conjunctionwith an identifier associated with an application. Hence, in variousembodiments, the third party application manager 230 associates anidentifier of a third party system 130 with one or more identifiersassociated with applications associated with the third party system 130as well as with information for installing one or more of theapplications. Example information for installing an application includea network address identifying a source from which instructions forinstalling the application are retrieved or an application identifierfor communication to an application installer executing on a clientdevice 110.

If the online system 140 receives access information associated with anonline system user from a third party system 130, the third partyapplication manager 230 determines whether an application is associatedwith the third party system 130. An online system user may provideinformation used to access the online system 140 to a third party system130, which communicates the information to the online system 140 alongwith an identifier of the third party system 130. If the online system140 determines that the information from the third party system 130authorizes the user to access the online system 140, the online system140 communicates an indication to the third party system 130 of whetherthe user is authorized to access the online system 140. If the user isauthorized to access the online system 140, the third party system 130allows the user to access content from the third party system 130.

Additionally, based on the information from the third party system 130,the third party application manager 230 determines if an application isassociated with the third party system 130. For example, the third partyapplication manager 230 compares an identifier of the third party system130 with stored associations between identifiers of third party systems130 and identifiers of applications. If the identifier of the thirdparty system 130 matches a stored identifier of a third party system130, the third party application manager 230 identifies an applicationassociated with the third party system 130. Information for installingthe identified application is retrieved by the third party applicationmanager 230, which communicates the information for installing theidentified application to a client device 110 associated with the user.This allows the user to more easily install an application associatedwith the third party system 130 on a client device 110 to improve userinteraction with the third party system 130. Identification of anapplication associated with a third party system 130 and transmission ofinformation for installing an application associated with the third thethird party system is further described below in conjunction with FIG. 3

The web server 235 links the online system 140 via the network 120 tothe one or more client devices 110, as well as to the one or more thirdparty systems 130. The web server 235 serves web pages, as well as othercontent, such as JAVA®, FLASH®, XML and so forth. The web server 235 mayreceive and route messages between the online system 140 and the clientdevice 110, for example, instant messages, queued messages (e.g.,email), text messages, short message service (SMS) messages, or messagessent using any other suitable messaging technique. A user may send arequest to the web server 235 to upload information (e.g., images orvideos) that are stored in the content store 210. Additionally, the webserver 235 may provide application programming interface (API)functionality to send data directly to native client device operatingsystems, such as IOS®, ANDROID™, WEBOS® or BlackberryOS.

Transmitting Installation Information for an Application Associated witha Third Party System

FIG. 3 is an interaction diagram of one embodiment of a method fortransmitting information for installing an application associated with athird party system 130 to a user of an online system 140. In otherembodiments, the steps of the method may be performed in differentorders than the order described in conjunction with FIG. 3.Additionally, the method may include different or additional steps thanthose described in conjunction with FIG. 3.

The online system 140 stores information describing applicationsassociated with various third party systems 130, as described above inconjunction with FIG. 2. The stored information includes informationidentifying a third party system 130 and identifiers associated with oneor more applications associated with the third party system, such asapplications associated with the third party system 130 and configuredto be executed by different types of client devices 110. For example,the stored information identifies a third party system 130 (e.g., byusing an identifier associated with the third party system 130) andassociates one or more applications with the third party system 130.Information describing various applications may also be stored by theonline system 140. For example, information identifying a type of clientdevice 110 associated with an application or identifying characteristicsof the application is included in the information identifying theapplication and associating the application with a third party system130.

In various embodiments, the stored information for an applicationincludes information for installing the application, allowing the onlinesystem 140 to maintain information for installing an application.Example information for installing an application includes a link to alocation for retrieving instructions for installing the application orinstructions for directing an application installer (e.g., anapplication store) executing on a client device 110 to instructions forinstalling the application. Thus, in some embodiments, the online system140 stores an identifier associated with a third party system 130,identifiers associated with one or more applications associated with thethird party system 130, an association between the identifier associatedwith the third party system 130 and the identifiers associated with theone or more applications associated with the third party system 130, andinformation for installing various applications from the one or moreapplications.

A user of the online system 140 transmits 305 a login request to a thirdparty system 130 from a client device 110 to access content provided bythe third party system 130. The login request includes informationidentifying the user and information used by the user to access theonline system 140 (“access information”). The third party system 130transmits 310 the access information to the online system 140 along withan identifier associated with the third party system 130, whichdetermines whether the access information authorizes the user to accessthe online system 140. For example, the user transmits an identificationof the online system 140 as well as a username and password used toaccess the online system 140 to the third party system 130, whichtransmits 310 the username and password to the online system 140. If theonline system 140 determines the username and password match informationassociated with the user by the online system 140, the user's identityis verified by the online system 140, so the user is authorized toaccess the online system 140.

An indication of whether the user is authorized to access the onlinesystem 140 is transmitted 315 from the online system 140 to the thirdparty system 130. The transmitted indication specifies whether theonline system 140 determines the user is authorized to access the onlinesystem 140 based on the access information received from the third partysystem 130. If the online system 140 determines the access informationdoes not authorize the user to access the online system 140, the thirdparty system 130 prevents the user from accessing content provided bythe third party system 130. However, if the indication form the onlinesystem 140 indicates the access information allows the user to accessthe online system 140, the third party system 130 allows 320 the user toaccess content provided by the third party system 130. Use ofinformation for accessing the online system 140 to access a third partysystem 130 is further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/471,313, filed on Aug. 28, 2014, which is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

Additionally, if the online system 140 determines the user is authorizedto access the online system 140 based on the access information receivedfrom the third party system 130, the online system 140 determines 325 ifan application is associated with the third party system 130. As anapplication associated with the third party system 130 may improve userinteraction with the third party system 130 by providing certainfunctionality or simplifying access to content, using an applicationassociated with a third party system 130 may enhance user interactionwith the third party system 130. For example, an application associatedwith the third party system 130 is configured to execute on a certaintype of client device 110 to leverage capabilities of the type of clientdevice 110 to enhance user interaction with content from the third partysystem 130. After determining the user is authorized to access theonline system 140, the online system 140 compares the identifierassociated with the third party system 130 received with the accessinformation to stored identifiers associated with third party systems130. If the identifier associated with the third party system 130matches a stored identifier associated with a third party system 130,the online system 140 determines 325 whether one or more applicationsare associated with the identifier associated with the third partysystem 130. For example, the online system 140 determines 325 whether anidentifier associated with an application is associated with theidentifier associated with the third party system 130.

Information associated with the user or with the client device 110associated with the user may be used to determine 325 whether the thirdparty system 130 is associated with an application. For example, theonline system 140 determines 325 whether an application associated witha type corresponding to the client device 110 associated with the useris associated with the third party system 130. Additional informationdescribing the type of client device 110 associated with the user mayalso be used when determining 325 whether the third party system 130 isassociated with an application.

If the online system 140 determines 325 an application is associatedwith the third party system 130, information for installing theapplication is retrieved by the online system 140 and transmitted 330 tothe client device 110 associated with the user. Information forinstalling the application may be retrieved from information stored bythe online system 140 and associated with the application. Theinformation for installing the application may be retrieved from theinformation stored by the online system 140, may be retrieved from thethird party system 130, or may be retrieved from any suitable source.Various types of communication channels may be used to transmit 330 theinformation for installing the application associated with the thirdparty system 130 to the client device 110 associated with the user. Inone embodiment, the instructions for installing the applicationassociated with the third party system 130 are a link to a source forretrieving instructions for installing the application included in atext message, in an e-mail, in a notification message, or in anothersuitable type of communication. Alternatively, the instructions forinstalling the application associated with the third party system 130are instructions for execution by the client device to configure anapplication installer (e.g., an application store) executing on a clientdevice 110 to install the application.

When the client device 110 receives the information for installing theapplication from the online system 140, the client device 110 determines335 whether the application is installed on the client device 110. Forexample, the client device 110 compares application identifiers ofapplications installed on the client device 110 to an identifierassociated with the application. If the identifier associated with theapplication matches an application identifier of an applicationinstalled on the client device 110, the client device 110 does not takefurther action. However, if the identifier associated with theapplication does not match an application identifier of an applicationinstalled on the client device 110, the client device 110 presents 340the information for installing the application associated with the thirdparty system 130 received from the online system 140. In someembodiments, the online system 140 transmits a request to the clientdevice 110 to determine if the application is installed on the clientdevice 110 before transmitting 340 the information for installing theapplication and transmits 340 the information for installing theapplication if the client device 110 responds to the request withinformation indicating the application is not installed. Alternatively,the online system 140 accesses stored information associated with theuser and maintained by the online system 140 to determine whether theapplication is installed on the client device 110. For example, theonline system 140 maintains information describing client devices 110associated with the user and applications installed on the clientdevices 110 associated with the user; the online system determineswhether the stored information describing applications stored on clientdevices 110 associated with the user indicates the application isinstalled on the client device 110. If the stored information associatedwith the client devices 110 associated with the user does not indicatethe application is installed on the client device 110, the online system140 transmits 340 the information for installing the application to theclient device 110.

The client device 110 may present 340 the information for installing theapplication using any suitable method. As an example, the client device110 presents 340 a text message or a notification message including alink to a source for retrieving instructions for installing theapplication. Interacting with the presented 340 link allows the user toretrieve the instructions for installing the application on the clientdevice 110. In another example, the client device 110 executesinstructions received from the online system 140 that cause anapplication installer executing on the client device 110 to retrieveinformation for installing the application. The application installermay present the user with information describing the application andprompt the user to confirm installation of the application or mayinstall the application based information retrieved from the third partysystem 130 or from another source.

Summary

The foregoing description of the embodiments has been presented for thepurpose of illustration; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limitthe patent rights to the precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in therelevant art can appreciate that many modifications and variations arepossible in light of the above disclosure.

Some portions of this description describe the embodiments in terms ofalgorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information.These algorithmic descriptions and representations are commonly used bythose skilled in the data processing arts to convey the substance oftheir work effectively to others skilled in the art. These operations,while described functionally, computationally, or logically, areunderstood to be implemented by computer programs or equivalentelectrical circuits, microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has alsoproven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of operationsas modules, without loss of generality. The described operations andtheir associated modules may be embodied in software, firmware,hardware, or any combinations thereof.

Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may beperformed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules,alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, asoftware module is implemented with a computer program productcomprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code,which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or allof the steps, operations, or processes described.

Embodiments may also relate to an apparatus for performing theoperations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for therequired purposes, and/or it may comprise a general-purpose computingdevice selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer programstored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in anon-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium, or any typeof media suitable for storing electronic instructions, which may becoupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore, any computing systemsreferred to in the specification may include a single processor or maybe architectures employing multiple processor designs for increasedcomputing capability.

Embodiments may also relate to a product that is produced by a computingprocess described herein. Such a product may comprise informationresulting from a computing process, where the information is stored on anon-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium and mayinclude any embodiment of a computer program product or other datacombination described herein.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principallyselected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not havebeen selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter.It is therefore intended that the scope of the patent rights be limitednot by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue onan application based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of theembodiments is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of thescope of the patent rights, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: transmitting, by a clientdevice, a login request to a third party system to access contentprovided by the third party system, the login request includingidentifying information for a user of the client device and accessinformation used by the user to access an online system, the third partysystem transmitting the access information to the online system toverify that the user is authorized to access the online system using theaccess information responsive to receiving the login request, where theonline system: if the user is authorized to access the online system,determines, using the access information, that an application for thethird party system exists and is not installed on the client device; andtransmits, to the client device, installation information for installingthe application associated with the third party system; receiving, bythe client device, the installation information from the online system;determining, by the client device, whether the application associatedwith the third party system is installed on the client device; andpresenting the installation information for installing the applicationassociated with the third party system on a user interface of the clientdevice.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether theapplication associated with the third party system is installed on theclient device includes: comparing application identifiers ofapplications installed on the client device to an identifier associatedwith the application.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving, by the client device a request from the online system forinformation to determine whether the application is installed on theclient device.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the online systemaccesses stored information associated with the user and maintained bythe online system to determine whether the application is installed onthe client device, the online system maintaining information describingclient devices associated with the user and applications installed onthe client devices.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the online systemtransmits the installation information for installing the application tothe client device in response to determining that the stored informationassociated with the client devices associated with the user does notindicate the application associated with the third party system isinstalled on the client device.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein theinformation for installing the application associated with the thirdparty system includes a link to a source including instructions forinstalling the application associated with the third party system.
 7. Acomputer-implemented method comprising: transmitting, by a clientdevice, a login request to a third party system to access contentprovided by the third party system, the login request includingidentifying information for a user of the client device and accessinformation used by the user to access an online system, the third partysystem transmitting the access information to the online system toverify that the user is authorized to access the online system using theaccess information responsive to receiving the login request, where theonline system: if the user is authorized to access the online system,determines, using the access information, that an application for thethird party system exists and is not installed on the client device; andtransmits, to the client device, installation information for installingthe application associated with the third party system; receiving, bythe client device, the installation information from the online system;determining, by the client device, that the application associated withthe third party system is not installed on the client device; andpresenting, on a user interface of the client device, the installationinformation for the user to install the application associated with thethird party system.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7,wherein determining whether the application associated with the thirdparty system is installed on the client device includes: comparingapplication identifiers of applications installed on the client deviceto an identifier associated with the application.
 9. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising: receiving,by the client device a request from the online system for information todetermine whether the application is installed on the client device. 10.The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the online systemaccesses stored information associated with the user and maintained bythe online system to determine whether the application is installed onthe client device, the online system maintaining information describingclient devices associated with the user and applications installed onthe client devices.
 11. The computer-implemented method of claim 7,wherein the online system transmits the installation information forinstalling the application to the client device in response todetermining that the stored information associated with the clientdevices associated with the user does not indicate the applicationassociated with the third party system is installed on the clientdevice.
 12. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein theinformation for installing the application associated with the thirdparty system includes a link to a source including instructions forinstalling the application associated with the third party system.
 13. Acomputer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executedby a processor, cause the processor to: store, at an online system, anassociation between an application and a third party system andinformation for installing the application; receive, at the onlinesystem, information from a third party system identifying the thirdparty system and including information associated with a user of theonline system for accessing the online system; determine, by the onlinesystem, that the received information from the third party systemauthorizes the user to access the online system; determine, by theonline system, that the application is associated with the third partysystem based on the stored data; retrieve, by the online system, theinformation for installing the application associated with the thirdparty system; and transmit, by the online system, the information forinstalling the application associated with the third party system to aclient device associated with the user of the online system, theinformation for installing the application being transmitted to theclient device for presentation to the user of the online system on auser interface of the client device.
 14. The computer program product ofclaim 13, wherein transmitting the information for installing theapplication further comprises: transmitting a request for an indicationof whether the application associated with the third party system isinstalled on the client device to the client device associated with theuser; and transmitting the information for installing the applicationassociated with the third party system to the client device if theindication received from the client device indicates the applicationassociated with the third party system is not installed on the clientdevice associated with the user.
 15. The computer program product ofclaim 13, wherein retrieving the information for installing theapplication associated with the third party system from the stored datacomprises: determining whether the application associated with the thirdparty system is installed on the client device associated with the userbased on information associated with the user by the online system; andretrieving the information for installing the application associatedwith the third party system from the stored data if it is determinedthat the application associated with the third party system is notinstalled on the client device associated with the user.
 16. Thecomputer program product of claim 13, wherein transmitting theinformation for installing the application associated with the thirdparty system to the client device associated with the user of the onlinesystem further comprises: transmitting instructions that, when executedby the client device associated with the user of the online system,configure an application installer executing on the client deviceassociated with the user of the online system to install theapplication.
 17. The computer program product of claim 13, whereindetermining that the application is associated with the third partysystem based on the stored data comprises: determining a type associatedwith the client device associated with the user; and determining whetheran application associated with the type associated with the clientdevice associated with the user is associated with the third partysystem.
 18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the typeassociated with the client device associated with the user specifies anoperating system associated with the client device associated with theuser.
 19. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein theinformation for installing the application associated with the thirdparty system includes a link to a source including instructions forinstalling the application associated with the third party system. 20.The computer program product of claim 19, wherein transmitting theinformation for installing the application associated with the thirdparty system to the client device associated with the user of the onlinesystem further comprises: including the link in a text message or anotification message transmitted from the online system to the clientdevice associated with the user of the online system.